New look at the Phoenix landing site

Recently, a place on Mars has been seen from orbit, where the NASA Phoenix mission landed almost 10 years ago. This is the far northern part of the Red Planet, where the dust managed to cover some traces of landing.

The device itself and its parachute rear end are still visible in the photo taken on December 21, 2017 by the HiRISE camera on the MRO. The first frame refers to May 25, 2008, which makes it possible to demonstrate the effect of dust.

In August 2008, Phoenix completed a 3-month mission to study ice, soil, and the Martian atmosphere. The device functioned for another 2 months, after which the reduction of sunlight led to a drop in energy. The robot with the solar battery was not intended for survival in the dark and frosty conditions of the Arctic winter of the Red Planet.